Wearing apparel with stretchable circumferential insets



W. W. ARTZT Jan. 5, 1954 WEARING APPAREL WITH STRETCHABLE CIRCUMFERENTIAL INSETS Filed Sept. 1, 1950 Patented Jan. 5, 1954 WEARING APPAREL WITH STRETCHABLE CIRCUMFERENTIAL INSETS William W. Artzt, New Rochelle, N. Y.

Application September 1, 1950, Serial No. 182,825

3 Claims.

The present invention relates to wearing apparel and is particularly directed to improved sleeping garments, undergarments and the like.

While the garments of the present invention are suitable for wear by persons of all ages, they are particularly suitable for infants and children.

Infants and childrens sleeping garments and undergarments are quickly outgrown and sometimes rendered uncomfortably small as a result of shrinkage during laundering. Accordingly, it is the custom to purchase such apparel a size too large, in which event the sleeves of the garment extend over the childs hands and the leg portions so extend over the ankles and onto the feet as to interfere With the childs walking. Where the garment is provided with feet covering portions, this practice of buying an overly large size results in the flapping of the loose feet covering portions and the child frequently trips or stumbles on such loose portions. If the correct size is purchased originally, the garment is soon outgrown so that the sleeve and leg portions creep up on the limbs of the wearer, and if the garment has feet covering portions, preventing such creeping up of the leg portions, then the garment is uncomfortable and must be discarded.

It is the primary object of the present invention to provide wearing apparel of the character indicated with legs and sleeves which are formed to extend in response to shrinkage due to laundering or to the growth of the infant or child for which the apparel is intended so that a correct fit is obtained throughout the useful life of the garment.

Another object is to provide such garments with longitudinally extensible sections between the calf and ankle portions or at the thigh portions of each leg and between the wrist and elbow portions or between the shoulder and elbow portions of each sleeve, so that the legs and sleeves continue to comfortably conform to the wearers limbs even after repeated washings and/or after the wearer has grown considerably.

Another object is to provide such garments in a simple and economical manner.

Other and further objects of the invention will be manifest from the following description and the accompanying drawing.

In accordance with the invention, the foregoing objects are accomplished by providing a garment of the character indicated which pref erably is constructed of a knitted fabric and provided with zones, extending around the sleeves and around the legs at the portions thereof above mentioned, of a knit more yieldable in the three-- tion longitudinally of the sleeves and legs than adjacent portions of the garment, such zones preferably being plait-knitted and adapted to open or increase in width to provide for the extension of the sleeves and legs of the garment.

In the accompanying drawing, wherein there is illustrated a preferred embodiment of the invention:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a garment made in accordance with the present invention and looking at the front thereof as worn by a child;

Fig. '2 is a perspective view of the garment shown in Fig. l as it appears when viewed from the rear;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of the leg portions of another garment embodying the present invention;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken along line t4 of Fig. l to show the seams joining together portions of the garment;

Fig. 5 is a sectional View, similar to Fig. 4, but showing anotherform of seams for joining the parts of the garment together;

Fig. 6 is a plan view of a blank from which sections of the garment may be formed;

Fig. '7 is a perspective view showing a step in forming a section of the garment from the blank of Fig. 6; and

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a tubular form from which a blank similar to that in Fig. 6 may be produced.

Referring to the drawing in detail, and more particularly to Figs. 1 and 2 thereof, there is shown a sleeping garment or undergarment H! which is preferably formed of a knitted fabric. The garment l9 includes a shirt or top portion I2 which is preferably split down the front (Fig. l) and provided with cooperating buttons and buttonholes, or other suitable fastenings, for closing the shirt or top portion. Circularly knitted sleeves l4 and i6 extend from the arm openings of the shirt portion l2 and are preferably formed integrally with the latter. The sleeves l4 and I6 are formed with the usual ribbed cuffs l8 and 20, respectively, so that the sleeves fit snugly at the wearers wrists, and are further provided with zones 22 and 24, respectively, extending therearound between the Wrist and elbow portions thereof, which zones are formed of a knit which is more yieldable along the length of the sleeves than the regular jersey knit formin the remainder of the sleeves.

The garment l0 also includes a trouser portion. 26 having a pair of legs 28 and it which terminate in feet covering portions 32 and 35, respectively. The trouser portion 2%: may be provided with a fly-opening 36 at the front and is preferably, separably joined to the lower edge or waist of the shirt portion l2 by buttons 38 carried by the latter to engage in cooperative buttonholes formed in a waist band 40 extending around the top edge of the trouser portion. While the trouser portion is shown as being separably connected to the shirt portion i2, these parts of the garment be permanently stitched together along a seam extending around the waist.

The legs 23 and 39 are formed with zones #32 and 44, respectively, extending therearound between the calf and ankle portions thereof. formed of a knit which is more yieldable along the lengths of the legs than the regular, form fitting, jersey knit comprising the remainder of the legs.

It is to be understood that the zones 22 and 24 of the sleeves may be disposed between the shoulder and elbow portions, and the zones 42 and M of the legs may be disposed about the thigh portions, if desired.

As seen in Fig. 2, the trouser portion 25 may be provided with a longitudinal zone 46 at the rear thereof extending from the waist band id between the legs to the crotch, which zone is formed of a knit more yieldable laterally than the adjacent portions of the trouser portion, as set forth in my copending application, Serial No. 103,557, filed July 8, 1949, whereby to stretch readily and thereby afford maximum comfort to the wearer in the back, seat and crotch areas, while readily conforming to the parts of the body of the wearer when worn and returning to its original shape even after repeated washings.

More particularly, the zones 22 and 2 3 insorted in the sleeves and the zones it and it inserted in the legs may be of a plait or accordion knit such as is illustrated and described in United States Letters Patent No. 2,201,980, wherein a self-pleating machine knitted, double-rib fabric has fewer wales on the inside surface at the fold line than at the outside of the fold line. In the zones 22, 24, s2 and i the fold lines are arranged to extend circumferentially around the sleeves or legs, as the case may be, so that the zones will permit longitudinal extension of the legs and sleeves for providing a correct fit at these extremities even when the wearer grows to an extent that would otherwise result in outgrowing the garment. For example, the fabric forming these yieldable zones may have one or more wales missing on one surface at every sixth, eighth or tenth Wale position, corresponding to the fold lines, and have two adjacent wales missing in the other surface at every fifth and sixth, seventh and eighth, or ninth and tenth wale position, respectively, with the missing wales on one surface being generally equidistantly staggered in relation to the missing wales of the other surface. The thread forming the fabric is sufficiently tight in relation to the gauge and thickness of the thread to cause the fabric to fold itself in accordion fashion along the lines of the missing wales.

Such a knit permits localized stretch across the zones 22 and as of the sleeves and zones 2 and 44 of the legs, and the snug fit of cuffs i3 and 2s of the sleeves will cause zones 22 and 26 to expand sufficiently for effecting a lengthening of the sleeves to conform to the length of the wearers arms, while the wearers feet engaging in the feet portions 32 and 35 will similarly force the opening of the pleat in zones 42 and M, to

accordingly adapt the length of the legs 28 and 3D to the related limbs of the wearer.

While it is preferable that the fabric forming the zones 22, 24, 42 and M be circularly knitted, so that no seams are required in the zones, these sections may also be provided by sewing together the opposite end edges of an elongated blank 05 (Fig. 6) to form a circular band (Fig. 7). The blank 50 is formed with longitudinally extending plaits or accordion pleats and is stretched laterally, to open or extend the pleats, during the stitching of the seam 4! so that the stitching will not interfere with the axial stretch of the zones formed by the resulting circular band.

The longitudinally plaited or accordion pleated blank 36 may be cut from a continuous elongated web, shown in broken lines in Fig. 6, formed upon a hat, double-needle knitting machine, that is, a machine having two juxtaposed sets or rows of needles, wherein certain of the needles in both sets are removed, corresponding to the missing wales at the fold lines, and the thread or yarn is fed alternately to needles in the two diiferent sets or rows of needles with sufficient tension so as to cause the fabric to fold by itself around the points where the needles are removed.

In the double-rib or accordion pleated fabric blank 46, made on such a machine, the thread forming each course forms a loop alternately on opposite sides of the fabric over a suitable width and then for either two or three stitches only on one face of the fabric and then on both faces for the same width and then again only on the opposite face for either two or three stitches. To produce such a fabric, the needles removed from the two rows or sets of needles are disposed at regular intervals but with the spaces of the removed needles of one row being staggered in relation to the spaces of the removed needles of the other row.

The blank 46 may also be knitted on any other type of double-needle row machine, wherein the same thread may be fed alternately to the needle of one row and then to the needle of the other row, and so on across the length of the needle bar. For example, a generally tubular form 58 (Fig. 8) may be produced on a circular knitting machine and then out along spaced axial lines 49 to provide several blanks 4 6, similar to the blank :38, from which the circular band of Fig. 7 may be formed.

Such circular double-needle rowmachines are exemplified by machines made by the Wildman Manufacturing Company of Morristown, Pennsylvania, wherein both rows of needles are arranged in a continuous uninterrupted circle and in which one row of needles is arranged generally vertically, such needles being generally referred to as the cylinder needles, while the other row of needles is arranged generally radially and more or less at right angles to the cylinder needles, the needles of this row being generally referred to as the dial needles. The circular double needle row machines may be either of the type in which the needle banks rotate in relation to non-rotating cams and in relation to non-rotating thread carriers or they may be of the type in which the needle banks do not rotate and instead the actuating cams rotate along with the thread carriers or thread guides. Any of such machines may be readily arranged to knit the double-rib or plait stretch by removing or rendering inoperative certain of the needles in the cylinder and dial rows with the spaces of the removed or inoperative needles in the rows being staggered.

Having described several ways in which the sections forming the accordion pleated zones 22, 24, 42 and 44 may be provided, such sections are then inserted between the jersey knit portions of the sleeves and legs of the garment and are secured to the adjacent jersey knit portions by fiat seams. In Fig. 4 suitable flat seams are illustrated which are formed by extending the edges of the legs 28 of the trousers and of the feet 32 over the top and bottom edges, respectively, of zone 42, and securing such overlapped edges by stitching 49 and 50 extending circumferentially around the top and bottom edge portions of the circular zone 42.

In Fig. 5 an alternative form of fiat seams is illustrated for securing the accordion pleated circular zone 42 between the lower edge of the leg portion 28' and the upper edge of the foot covering portion 32'. In this alternative form of flat seam, the adjacent edge portions of the accordion pleated section and of the jersey knit portions are brought into facial contact and then reverted or bent over onto the outer surface of the jersey knit portions and secured to the latter by circumferential rows of stitching 5| and 52 extending through the edge portions of zone 42, the reverted edge portions of the jersey knit areas and the underlying portions of the latter. In each case, that is, the seams of Figs, 4 and 5, the connection between the accordion pleated zones and the adjacent jersey knit sections of the garment is relatively smooth at the inner surface to provide the maximum comfort.

Referring now to Fig. 3, the lower portions of the legs 53 and 54 of another garment embodying the invention are illustrated. In this garment, the feet covering portions have been omitted, and the trousers of the garment terminate instead in suitable rib-knitted cuffs 55 and 56 which fit snugly about the wearers ankles. The leg portions 53 and 54 are provided with accordion pleated zones 51 and 58, respectively, disposed between the cuffs and knee portions thereof, which zones have the fold lines of the plait knit extending circumferentially, as in the case of zones 42 and 44 of Figs. 1 and 2, so that the zones may extend longitudinally of the leg portions to permit the latter to conform to the length of the wearers legs. Although Fig. 3 shows only the legs of the modified garment, it is to be understood that such garment may also include extensible inserts in the sleeves thereof, similar to zones 22 and 24 of Figs. 1 and 2, to accommodate the sleeves to the length of the wearer's arms.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that the present invention provides improved sleeping garments, undergarments and the like, which are formed with extensible sleeves and legs to conform to the length of the wearers limbs so that such items of wearing apparel need not be discarded due to shrinkage or when the child or infant has grown beyond its original dimensions and so that the garments need not be purchased originally a size too large with a view to the child or infant growing to fit the garments.

While I have illustrated and described preferred embodiments of my invention, it is to be understood that I do not wish to be limited to those precise embodiments, as obviously various modifications and changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim is:

1. An article of wearing apparel formed of a knitted fabric comprising a body covering portion and sleeves and legs extending from said body covering portion, said sleeves and legs having means at their respective ends for close engagement with the extremities of the wearers limbs to maintain said sleeves and legs in covering relation to the limbs, circumferentially extending circular zones interposed in said sleeves between the wrist and elbow covering portions thereof and in said legs between the ankle and knee covering portions of the latter so that said zones are remote from the joints of the covered limbs, said zones being formed of a knit more yieldable longitudinally of the sleeves and legs than the remainder of the latter so that said sleeves and legs may extend longitudinally to comfortably accommodate the lengths of the wearers limbs covered thereby.

2. An article of wearing apparel according to claim 1, wherein said zones are formed of a plaitknit having the wales thereof extending circum ferentially around the sleeves and legs, respectively, and said remainder of said sleeves and legs is formed of a conventional jersey knit.

3. An article of wearing apparel according to claim 1; wherein said means at the ends of said sleeves and legs for maintaining the latter in covering relation to the wearers limbs includes ribknit cuffs at the ends of said sleeves and legs for snugly fitting about the wearer's wrists and ankles, respectively.

WILLIAM W. ARTZT.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Artzt May 28, 1940 

